It has been a tough September for Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV). France's Green party, which hoped to re-found itself and expand over the summer, has had to deal with the fallout from its attempts at generating buzz – such as an invitation to controversial French rapper Médine to attend a seminar – and suffered political blows from its partners in the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (NUPES, an alliance grouping four left-leaning parties). On October 14, EELV is expected to rename itself 'Les Ecologistes' at the end of a general assembly designed to make the party's doors "open wide."

Despite the highly visible installation of Marine Tondelier as new party leader, when most French people say they want to see progress on global warming, the Greens are entering the fall somewhat isolated as the government is imposing its themes. At a meeting of party chiefs with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, August 30, the issue of climate change was virtually absent, despite attempts by Tondelier to have the matter discussed. Macron said he had taken note of a recent decision by the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, to suspend the dissolution of Les Soulèvements de la Terre, an organization dedicated to fighting global warming. The Greens and officials of the radical-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) pressed him to stop "criminalizing" environmental movements, but Macron did not commit to anything.

The invitation sent out to rapper Médine, embroiled in a row over a tweet deemed anti-semitic, led many party officials to resort to a flurry of expressions, with some describing a "little mistake" and others speaking of a "major fuck-up." The party has been accused of being lax on anti-semitism, even though it has some of the most committed activists on the issue, as illustrated by the Greens' organization of a study day on Jew hatred at the Senate in April. The Greens were torn on the attitude to adopt with the rapper. Meanwhile LFI, which had also invited the artist to a debate, denied outright that he or his tweets could be anti-semitic without batting an eyelid.

From a media perspective, the militant culture of the Greens has many disadvantages. Among environmentalists, disagreements are out in the open, and nuances are countless. Former leader David Cormand took responsibility: "Militant, etymologically speaking, comes from 'military'. It's the opposite of what we are. Politically, it's maybe a handicap, but if we didn't have that, we wouldn't be environmentalists. There's nothing easier to get media attention when you're a Green than to say bad things about the Greens." The same applies to the Greens' partners. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the founder of LFI, was quick to mock the Greens' "sense of timing that we've always given them credit for," referring to the 2024 European elections and their refusal to lead a joint list.

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